Black Lawmakers Threaten to Block Loan to MTA for L.A.-Pasadena Line

The Legislature’s black caucus vowed Wednesday to block a state loan for the downtown Los Angeles-to-Pasadena light-rail line unless the Metropolitan Transportation Authority makes a “real financial commitment” to improve transit service in the county’s African American community.

A letter sent to MTA board Chairman Larry Zarian and signed by seven black legislators calls the MTA’s recently adopted rail recovery plan “nothing short of environmental and economic discrimination.”

The plan was adopted by the agency’s board last week to satisfy federal concerns about the MTA’s ability to build the projects that it has promised. But it has generated intense local opposition.

San Fernando Valley lawmakers persuaded the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday to withhold $200 million from the MTA because of a proposed delay in construction of an east-west Valley line. And the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. called for state legislation to create a separate Valley transit authority.

Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles), who also heads the black caucus, had vowed last week to hold up a $54-million state loan for the Pasadena line until the county transit agency addresses the transit needs of the Exposition and Crenshaw corridors and West Los Angeles.

Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) also objected Wednesday to the recovery plan.

The MTA says that it needs the state money to keep the Pasadena line on track to open in 2001.

Cynthia Kurtz, Pasadena public works and transportation director, said that any delay in construction on the so-called Blue Line also would hurt people dependent on public transit, including a large minority population in that city.

“What we need to do is look at serving the transit-dependent, including the African American communities throughout the county,” she said.

MTA acting chief Linda Bohlinger said the agency is studying building a busway down Exposition Boulevard from USC to Santa Monica. Transit officials recently toured Curitiba, Brazil, where fast-moving, high-capacity accordion-like buses have been used as a cheaper alternative to building rail lines.